


You Can Call Me Monster

by thanhbear



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Lucky One (Music Video), Alternate Universe - MAMA (Music Video), Alternate Universe - Monster (Music Video), Gen, M/M, Mutant Powers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-20
Updated: 2016-09-20
Packaged: 2018-08-16 04:47:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8087857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thanhbear/pseuds/thanhbear
Summary: The cycle must be broken. The cycle must not continue. After all their efforts to escape the laboratories, they can't afford to be caught again.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be a quick thing I wrote on the spot after the MVs dropped. I could've written a theory post on how I interpret the tie between Lucky One and Monster, but this seemed like a more appealing option. A huge thanks to my beta, Zai. God... Thank you for automatically knowing what I'm trying to say even though I leave sentences and thoughts incomplete. This would have been a tragic mess without you. 
> 
> I'm pretty sure this can't count as a birthday present, but the Xiubaek friendship is specifically for Hoon ♡

The latch and buckle of Baekhyun’s seatbelt rattled against each other. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the other sounds around him. The car’s engine roared over the gravel crunching beneath the tires, but even those couldn’t distract him. From the darkness behind his eyes emerged memories he tried to tuck away. He saw Kyungsoo thrashing on his gurney. The buckles that held Kyungsoo down by his legs and wrists kept hitting the metal bars around the gurney. 

_Clink._  
_Clink._  
_Clink._

“Hey. Ya doin’ alright?” 

Baekhyun to swallow his memories back down once he heard the driver’s question. He learned that even with the risk of the unpleasant memories being regurgitated later on, repressing them took less effort than dealing with them head on. He was a creature of habit, always falling back to what worked instead of what was best for himself. The only thing occupying his mind was getting into this city and meeting up with the other escapees. He didn’t have the luxury to worry about his state of mind when he didn’t know whether the others survived their trip to this planet.

His smile shook as much as the car did along the bumpy road. “Yeah, I’m fine. Carsickness runs in the family.”

“You said they got a place in the city, right?”

A nod. “Yessir,” Baekhyun lied. “I really appreciate the ride by the way. You’re a good person.”

“You’re too much, boy. A ride’s just a ride. I transport things for a livin’. This is just like any other job.” The driver barked a laugh; the chain hanging from his lip followed the moment of his shaking head.

Baekhyun pointed at the lip chain, the ear cuffs, and rings on the other man. “I like your fashion sense. It’s very unique, and it looks good on you.”

“Boy, you’re really not from ‘round here, are ya?” The driver laughed once more, this time a little more tame than the last. “Everybody wear these. They all mean somethin’.”

“What does the lip chain mean?” The boy made it no priority of his to contain his overflowing curiosity. 

“This? Your friends or family members always give these to people that they care about. It symbolizes their hope that fortune will follow you in life an’ what not. So if ya wear it, then you’re a lucky one.”

 

 

\----

 

 

Baekhyun adjusted his rings for the tenth time within the past five minutes. He’d gotten used to the weight of the chains swinging with every head turn and nod on his ears, but the downward drag on his bottom lip ate at his nerves. The sound of a few humored huffs caused his head to swivel over to locate their source. The motion carried the chains that hung from his ear cuffs and lip ring up then released control of them. The thin silver struck him on the cheek and shoulder. Tight wrinkles formed over his wrinkled nose.

The huffs had scraps of laughter within their airy mix now. 

“I swear. You and Minseok…”

“And Jongin,” Baekhyun added on to the list like he already knew where Yixing was going with his sentence. 

“All three of you are so flashy,” Yixing shook his head. His lip ring, sans chain, caught the light whenever that side of his face turned towards Baekhyun. He wasn’t used to seeing Yixing decorated in any way, and from Yixing’s expressions, he could tell Yixing wasn’t used to it either. If control was something he could easily grasp within his hands, he’d make it so that none of them had to go out of their way to bend to the customs of yet another new world. He’d had the most searing of lights pulse over his palms. He’d created them and molded them with his slender fingers, but never had he come close to having the feeling of control over his life brush across his finger tips. The softness of his bed sheets on those mornings when he could sleep in with tangled hair strands falling over his sleepy face were the closest things he could compare. But that was back on Earth. That was basically a lifetime ago.

“We have superior taste,” he teased blandly. “Look at good we look with these on. We’re definitely the most attractive people here.”

“The idea is to blend in and lie low.” Yixing motioned at his lip, then pointed back at Baekhyun with eyebrows raised.

Baekhyun’s attention turned back to his lip ring, which had slipped off once again. Getting a piercing like some of the others did would’ve meant he could avoid this frustration, but he didn’t want to do anything permanent to his body when the stay was ( supposed to be ) temporary. As much as he wrangled with it, though, the ring refused to take hold. Baekhyun speculated that it must've known it didn't belong there, so it was being stubborn.

Some forceful maneuvering later and he got it to stick again. “There!”

“You look good.” It felt like Yixing was just tossing him a bone, one that he’d pick up regardless, but Baekhyun knew he was being genuine. Not that he would've let it go either way. 

“Thank you. As expected, right?” He posed for his friend, ignoring the way the silver bar made his bottom lip itch. 

“Baekhyun, you’re bleeding,” Yixing pointed out. 

The annoying itch registered in his head as a wound, as he wiped at the blood. His fingers wiped at the blood. The iron scent smeared across his lip, now dyed by the deep crimson, and the smell alone made him flinch.

“Maybe wearing that isn’t a good idea...” 

He could hear the sad smile and furrowed brows purely through the tone of the other’s voice. Baekhyun took a deep breath.

“I’m fine.” He returned the smile. “I suppose this isn’t the worst custom we’ve encountered. This thing’s a little shit but I can get used to it.”

Yixing rested a hand on Baekhyun's shoulder. “I know you can.” 

A warmth bubbled in Baekhyun’s chest and rushed it's way up to his lip. The warmth consumed the stinging sensation as if someone pressed a finger over his skin. And with that slight pressure, it was over. Healed up like nothing had happened. 

“Thanks, _hyung_.”

“You look like the luckiest one out of all of us.” Yixing patted his shoulder a couple of times and grinned softly as he left the room.

 

 

\----

 

 

Jongin swallowed his mouthful of lettuce and beef then posed a simple question: “Remember when we used to sit on the floor and eat?” A series of groans and head shakes followed. 

Jongdae had a follow up question of his own. “Remember when the biggest table we could find only seated six and Junmyeon almost bought it, thinking we could cram ourselves in?” 

Baekhyun spoke quick to include his two cents. “He also suggested first come first serve.” 

“Jongin would literally have a permanent seat. It wouldn't even take much effort for him.” Sehun waved his chopsticks around as he spoke. 

Baekhyun snorted, “Imagine the brawl among us lesser privileged folks who can't teleport. We would’ve starved.”

“Knowing you, you’d starve because you talk more than you actually eat,” Jongdae smirked. “ _As always_ , that is.” 

Yixing raised his hand, “I’m just happy we have a big dining table now so we can all eat happily together.” 

The sudden sincerity covered over the noisy table, forcing all nine of them into a silent reflection out of respect. As with anything in life, everything had to come to an end, even heartfelt moments like this. Baekhyun told himself this before giving into his impulse to break the silence.

“Hey, Jongdae. Don’t think that I won’t throw something at you, just because you’re sitting at the other end of the table.”

 

 

\---

 

 

“Baekhyun, you seem tense.” Minseok didn’t pry his eyes away from the screen as he said this.

Baekhyun assumed that he only made a lucky guess. 

“We’re still friends after this, right? You’re the one who asked me to play with you after all.”

Baekhyun made a sucking noise behind his teeth in lieu of giving an actual response. Not that he had anything to say in place of the string of curses queueing behind his tongue. He stuck to shaking his head and sloppily mashing his thumbs against the controls a little more aggressively than necessary. Neither of them were strangers to this game; it’d just been a while. The last time they’d played co-op together on the resistance team like this was before the entire group started anew on Earth. Nonetheless Baekhyun could still navigate through each map with quick and light movements of the analog stick, while Minseok asked for refreshers on which button combos was for which attacks. 

The saturation of the colors on the screen became muted as the words “FAILED” dropped down from the top of the screen. 

“You did good, _hyung_. It’s okay. We’re still friends.” Baekhyun released a loud sigh that almost crossed the line over to an exasperated growl before throwing his controller to the side. The strange hybrid brought out some bright laughter from his co-player. 

Minseok reached over him to grab the controller and neatly placed it beside his on the coffee table before them. “Good,” he chuckled. “I usually don’t ask someone who isn’t my friend for advice anyway.”

An eyebrow raised with curiosity. “What about?” 

He watched as Minseok pulled up his right sleeve, then proceeded to rub a thumb across his inner wrist. He kept rubbing at it for a moment without answering, making the subject of the conversation clear. He hated his own wrist too. Along with his upper arm and thighs. Yixing had done his best to heal all their scars, but for Baekhyun not a day went by where he couldn’t see or feel the ghosts of the needle marks. 

“I need feedback. I sort of wanted to get a tattoo. I was out with Kyungsoo getting groceries earlier and we passed a parlor. They uh…” A corner of Minseok’s lips curled up into a smile. “Advertised that they now have UV tattoos. There’s a deal on them since they’re ‘brand new’.” He quoted with his fingers.

A loud laugh sputtered out of Baekhyun’s mouth. “You mean how this game is ‘brand new’ as well?” With both hands pointed at the “New Arrival” sticker on the game case. For an isolated planet that lay far outside the core of the galaxy this was to be expected, but the two shared a hearty laugh over it anyway. 

“What are you thinking of getting?” He gently took ahold of Minseok’s wrist and pretended to study it closely. “A quote? A huge realistic tree with the roots going over your veins? A cool snowflake?”

“I don’t want anything super showy. Or gaudy.” Minseok’s voice was soft, but _ouch_. Baekhyun was only joking anyway. “I sort of want to get the date… Of when we all came together again and escaped. I don’t know-- I just. I just need something to cover this up. I want to know if it sounds stupid. There’s nothing there but I need something else there. I don’t want to think of--”

Baekhyun slid his hand down to tightly clasp around Minseok’s. “I get it.”

When Minseok took a deep breath and the tension behind his eyes softened, Baekhyun felt more relieved as well. He'd been afraid that he was tip-toeing on the edge of being told that _No. No, he didn’t get it_. He lost the same brothers as the others did, but it still wasn’t in the same way that Yixing, Minseok, and Jongdae lost them. Feeling Minseok squeeze his hand back felt like having the earth beneath his feet again after jumping a hurdle. 

“I think it’s a great idea. I wish I would’ve thought of it first, honestly. Are you going to get hearts all around the date because you love us?” Baekhyun seized the chance to divert Minseok’s attention elsewhere, drawing little hearts in the air with his finger. Wherever his finger went, it left streaks of light that dissipated within seconds. 

Minseok punched Baekhyun in the arm. Hard.

“Ack-- You could’ve said no!” He laughed despite the throbbing in his arm. He grabbed his glass of soda off the coffee table and held it towards the other. “Hey, since I gave you feedback and allowed you to punch me. Do me a favor and do something about this? It’s getting warm and nasty.”

The glass left his hands and was transferred to the new set of hands. Between relieving the boys from the sweltering heat of summer and being a personal refrigerator for them, Minseok’s natural gifts had a lot of practical uses. 

As he concentrated on the glass, a crease formed between Minseok's brows, and Baekhyun’s eyes darted from that sight over to the glass. The glass was still so transparent that he could see the hallway that led to the dining room through it. "He looked back at Minseok, who didn't say a word; he was too busy gripping his glass so tightly that his hands shook. He blinked in rapid succession, though never took his eyes off the glass.

Baekhyun grabbed it by the rim and tried to pluck it out of Minseok’s grip. “On second thought, I won’t drink it at all. I’ll just conserve stomach space for food. It’s almost dinner time anyway. I think Kyungsoo’s cooking again.”

He felt an apologetic look casted upon him. He understood why Minseok had an off-performance day. Any recollection of that part of their past, regardless of the brevity of it, wasn’t healthy for their emotional states. 

“Don’t think about it too much. Let’s go eat, _hyung_.”

 

 

\---

 

 

Junmyeon read it for them the morning after. 

The headline read, “Shaken Up For the First Time in Years.” 

He dropped the newspaper down. The loud smack that it released when it fell onto the dining table made the cinch in Baekhyun’s chest tighten. 

“A 5.5 on the Richter.” Junmyeon pinned down the newspaper with his index finger. “We need to be more careful.” Despite him only pointing his finger at the mess-up and not the person behind it, the culprit still hung his head low. 

“I am sorry. I don’t know what happened, but I won’t make the same mistake again.” Kyungsoo’s voice sounded thick with guilt. 

Junmyeon ran his hand through his hair. “We’re running out of places to call home. Just… Please try harder.” 

 

 

\---

 

 

Ask Baekhyun to name something he was terrible at, following directions would be right at the top. 

Yixing had told him not to worry, but he hadn’t listened. It was becoming something of a pattern by now.

( _“Baekhyun, don’t touch my neck.”  
“Yes, Yixing.”_

_“Can you not talk so loud? I’m trying to sleep here.”  
“Yes, Yixing.”_

_“I’m afraid of anything with a beak. Can you stop making duck faces in photos?”  
“Now you’re just being a shit…” _ )

It was a paper cut on Yixing’s right pinky. The length was concerning, though it wasn’t deep in the least. The sight still bothered Baekhyun for multiple reasons. For one, blood bothered him by default. Two, it looked out of place on Yixing’s gentle hand. 

“Do you think Jongin will like these? I think he’s read them before… I can’t remember which volumes he didn’t have.” Yixing was pointing at some graphic novels on the shelf; Baekhyun knew that much from the context.

The hand that stole so much of his attention came closer and closer into his line of vision. The hand that he stared so intently at pinched and tugged at his cheek, not hard enough to cause any harm but enough to break his stream of focus. 

Baekhyun exhaled, “I’m sorry, but can’t we buy a box of band aids and do something about that?”

Yixing twisted his hand to the side to examine the cut himself. His expression turned stern as his lips pressed together into a firm line across his face. His features scrunched together and his other hand flew up to clutch at his chest. It wasn’t until he started bending over that Baekhyun had to reach out to grab his arms to offer support. 

“Yixing?!”

The other boy snorted and stood back up. Teeth flashing and dimple deepening, his smile had Baekhyun pushing him away in embarrassment. 

“Relax, Baekhyun. I’m fine. I’ll walk around like this so you don’t have to see it.” He held his right arm behind his back. He looked ridiculous, but Baekhyun couldn’t help but let a smile break through his grumpy countenance. 

“At least heal it. It takes like a fraction of a second and I don’t have to walk around with you attracting attention for looking like an idiot,” Baekhyun joked.

Yixing promised that when they got home he would do it right away, and Baekhyun conceded. 

Ask anybody to name something Yixing was best at, and keeping promises would be at the top of the list. 

And so Baekhyun waited. He waited as they bounced from store to store. He continued to wait as they came home.

“Yixing, you’re still bleeding,” Baekhyun pressed on with an edge to his voice. He'd tried being patient while they walked through the door; waited until they were settled, and had put away everything they'd bought for the others. It couldn't be ignored any longer 

The edges of the cut alternated from melding back together and splitting apart again. A queasy feeling in Baekhyun’s stomach churned as he witnessed the blood spilling and receding. Everything screamed for him to look away but he wanted to see this go away himself. 

“Go get Chanyeol,” Yixing instructed with a steady voice. The cut grew, trailing down into the side of his palm. Baekhyun didn’t see the correlation between this and getting Chanyeol. 

“Why?” 

“Just do it. I need him to cauterize this before I make it worse.” His last words held a hint of unease behind them. “I can’t… I can’t control which power is manifesting right now.” 

Rapid healing inducement and rapid anti-healing inducement. Baekhyun recalled reading that off the tag that used to hang around Yixing’s wrist. Without another useless inquiry, he ran upstairs to get the fire starter. Images of the cut slicing further down Yixing’s arm flashed around Baekhyun’s head. His breath shortened and his chest constricted as if those imaginary sights were real.

Chanyeol’s name ripped out its way out of Baekhyun’s throat. 

 

 

\---

 

 

Baekhyun was in favor of leaving the big reveal for dinner to keep everybody’s mind off of Yixing’s power hiccup. He utilized blinks and nods, all in various and obscure manners, to signal Minseok to go ahead. 

Minseok shot him a strange look, then cleared his throat. 

“Hey, everyone. I have something to announce if you don’t mind.”

Baekhyun vibrated with excitement in his seat as all eyes laid on the speaker. 

“I haven’t told anybody this-- outside of Baekhyun. I sorta wanted it to be a surprise.” He rolled his sleeves up to show his wrist covered in saran wrap. Aside from the redness of the area it was not much of a sight. Confusion traveled from one face to another. 

Minseok laughed nervously. “It’s a tattoo. I wanted something to commemorate us. Something permanent on my body to remind me of everything we’ve endured together.”

“That’s really sweet, but are you sure you got a tattoo?” Sehun bit down on his lip, making an awful effort to not laugh. 

“Just watch, kiddo,” Baekhyun got up from his seat and stood over Minseok. His hand hovered a foot or two above the wrist. Once upon a time, suppressing visible light used to be a party trick to get stupid shit to glow, but it had brought joy to people once. Maybe it could do the same now. The numbers on Minseok’s wrist started glowing against his flesh.

Minseok told him that if he didn’t have to worry about blowing their cover he would’ve gotten it in the script of their home planet. But even with arabic numerals, it looked damn good.

A choir of gasps broke out. He almost didn’t notice for himself, but once he looked past the wrist and at the plate of food beneath it he understood. The spaghetti noodles had a black film covering every line and curve. His hand withdrew immediately and the plate appeared normal once more.

He rubbed his eyes hard with the palms of his hands. It was his fault. He did something with the light he didn’t mean to. Yeah. Yeah, that was it. That idea was easier to swallow even if falsified. 

“Baekhyun. Do that again,” Junmyeon requested. 

Upon instinct Baekhyun shook his head and denied him flat out. They, of all people, knew where his head went when that black ink-like substance appeared. He didn’t want to see it again in such a short duration of time. ( Or ever again. )

“I need you to do it again,” Junmyeon repeated, this time with more authority in his eyes. 

Baekhyun hands trembled over the plate. He wished that he could lie and let all of this leave their minds, but that wasn’t like him. He could never put his family at risk. The light emitting from his hands stuttered. Nobody else would be able to tell, but Baekhyun always noticed his own faults. Who wouldn't?

 _Focus. Focus_. For a second time, he channeled his energy into his hands and pushed through more energy than necessary for a task this small. The black film was visible once more, easing the tension in his shoulders. Despite the setback, he’d gotten the job done and that was all he really cared about. 

Chair legs scraped against the floor as one by one as each person stood up to get a better view. 

Junmyeon placed his own plate over Minseok’s and Baekhyun’s powers went to work again. The results were the same. His food were covered in the same substance. 

“Go around the table.” Junmyeon motioned with his head.

He started with Sehun’s plate. 

Then Jongin’s.

Chanyeol’s.

Kyungsoo’s.

Jongdae’s. 

Yixing’s.

His own. 

Not one piece of food was untouched by it. The name of it hung silently in the air for a moment, it was a substance they'd all seen before. Never in this form on top of their food but in vials, in needles, in the tubes that went into their veins… 

“How long has this been here?” Jongdae asked the question on everyone’s minds.

“For as long as it takes to suppress our powers as much as it has. I’m assuming. The more we ingested it into our system, the weaker our powers become,” Junmyeon replied darkly. 

Baekhyun spat the ugly truth out. “So they found us again.”

Nobody wanted to confirm what they knew to be true. That would mean accepting it. Should they be grateful that they were being torn away from this life before their roots had grown too deep? Or was this yet another alarm to wake them up to the fact that they were on the run once more? No matter what end of the galaxy they traveled to, the Research Extraction Division ( RED ) forces always hunted them down. 

“They got smarter this time… More daring. They drugged us first to weaken us,” Minseok said in a small voice. 

“Whose powers are almost completely suppressed?” Junmyeon looked pained by what he was forced to say. 

They all watched Jongin raised his hand in thick silence. Horror befell Baekhyun as he saw his own death sentence spelled out before him. With their teleporter near depletion, their chances of getting away were squashed beneath the heel of the RED forces even more thoroughly. Junmyeon’s voice droned on. It was the same speech about taking precautions and the importance of keeping their heads on straight that they got every time something like this happened. 

Tired. Tired. Tired. Baekhyun was suddenly tired of it all. Fatigue had long seeped into his bones and made his entire body heavy, but this drained his last ounce of strength. To run and to fight as Junmyeon suggested sounded too exhausting.The mere thought of surviving and getting up, just to continue living these temporary lives had already lost its appeal. He wanted them to live without having to bury their real identities in the soil of a new world every few months. How much more of their present must they hand over before the RED forces stole their whole future away? 

“We’ve already lost another brother on Earth, so we need to work quickly this time. We’ll follow the same plan as last time, but this time we split into pairs. Baekhyun…” Junmyeon’s eyes met his. “I need to talk to you. Please stay back for a minute. Everybody else, go get prepared.”

Baekhyun hated this part the most. _He wanted to keep his family together. No matter what._

 

 

\---

 

 

Things escalated sooner than they’d all predicted. 

Sirens wailed into the day and night on an hourly basis. None of the guards carried firearms on them. Baekhyun sent his gratitude to any and every higher power that was willing to hear him. This was the first time that a planet's slow technical developments had worked in their favor. 

From what he observed, each guard only carried nightsticks. Now, that'd hurt like hell to be struck by, don’t get him wrong, but being shot being shot by a bullet or laser and being battered both offered very different survival rates. 

“I’m gonna look so ugly in those damn things.” The attempted joke dropped from his mouth with a dull thud. By now he lacked the energy to heighten the spirit of his companion but he’d wanted to try nonetheless. 

Yixing glanced back over his shoulder. Baekhyun couldn't see his mouth, but just by the way his eyes glimmered, he could tell Yixing had forced a smile for his sake. “You’re going to blend in and still be the most attractive person there.”

Baekhyun wanted the joke to ease his worries, but it didn’t. Checkpoints along any stretch of road were prepared to search any vehicle or passerby for any “Dangerous Alien Threats.” And staying stationary wasn’t a safer option either. A number of homes had searched from top to bottom, and warrants allowed the officers to detain anybody who had the gall to provide refuge. The RED forces were using the planet’s army to draw them out.

But two could play at that game. If one side manipulated the local army to drive them out of hiding, the other side could use that same army to drive them to safety. 

( _“I know your powers are operating at a higher capacity than the rest of ours. I’m sorry, Baekhyun, but it has to be you. You’re instrumental in getting us out of here.”_ )

Junmyeon could go fuck himself for putting all of the responsibility on Baekhyun's shoulders, honestly. But, as per usual, he couldn’t argue with the leader’s logic or plans. The hallway he and Yixing stood in felt as though the walls were closing in on them. He would invite this quick death, but he knew that Yixing’s survival depended on him. The owner of the warehouse had seen them enter almost half an hour ago; it was only a matter of time before the troops stormed in to check on the call ins about intruders. In fact, that was what they were counting on. 

“Are you going to be okay without me, _hyung_?” Baekhyun had to obey the plan to the last crossed “T” and dotted “I.” He had no choice, but leaving Yixing behind still felt wrong. 

“I’ll join up with Junmyeon in time, don’t worry. You do what you have to. We’ll do everything we can to ensure it's a success"

Solo missions didn’t vibe with him for that very reason. It made everybody talk like martyrs, and that sliced right through his heart. 

“I’m going to get everybody out. I can do it,” Baekhyun said with full determination. 

“I know you can,” Yixing replied without glancing back as the warehouse doors slid open loud enough for them to hear.

“FIND THOSE MONSTERS.” 

The bellowing of the squad leader no doubt, Baekhyun smirked. His lips thinned out into a smirk. “A lot of people are about to die, you know? Maybe they are right to call us monsters.”


End file.
